guidegeek
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Ross Borden and the distance between a story and a trip
A volcano in Peru gave Ross Borden an idea for a travel community. Two decades into Matador Network, he is still working on what happens when someone else wants to go.
Matador Network
Matador Network is a San Francisco-based travel media company founded in 2006 that publishes original stories, videos, and city guides for modern, adventure-minded travelers. Bootstrapped from an $11,000 start into one of the world's largest independent travel brands, its content reaches well over 100 million people a month across web and social. In 2023 it launched GuideGeek, a free OpenAI-powered travel assistant that answers questions inside Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger, and now licenses white-label versions of that AI to tourism boards and destination marketing organizations worldwide.